About Rita Leistner

Rita Leistner is an artist and photojournalist influenced by media theory thanks to entering the world of conflict photography with an MA in comparative literature from the University of Toronto (1990) where she teaches courses on “the art and purpose of photojournalism and documentary photography.” She is a graduate of the International Center of Photography in New York where the influences of Concerned Photography became central to her practice. Her photographs have been widely published and exhibited internationally.

Rita is probably best known internationally for Unembedded: Four Independent Photojournalists on the War in Iraq (2005) with Ghaith Abdul-Ahad, Kael Alford and Thorne Anderson. She’s also contributed essays and photographs to many other notable books of and about photography including Julian Stallabrass’s Memories of Fire: Images of War and the War of Images (2013), Michael Kamber’s Photojournalists on War: The Untold Stories from Iraq (2013) and The Edward Curtis Project: A Modern Picture Story with Marie Clements.

Looking for Marshall McLuhan in Afghanistan is Rita’s first sole-authored book.